Park Service correction narrows 'subsistence uses' change in new Alaska harvest rule

The National Park Service filed a correction Tuesday to its new Alaska wildlife harvest rule, limiting the rule's change to the federal definition of "subsistence uses" to that definition's introductory text. The terms defined after that opening stay as they are.

The correction is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on Wednesday. In the final rule published Oct. 19, the revised definition ended its opening text with "For the purposes of this paragraph, the terms" followed by asterisks marking unchanged text. The correction specifies that the amendment covers only "the introductory text of the definition for Subsistence uses."

The rule takes effect Nov. 18 for subsistence users, hunters, trappers and anglers on Park Service land in Alaska.

It rewrites regulations for hunting, fishing, trapping and other harvest in Alaska park areas, along with the procedures used to restrict public use and access, including for subsistence. The agency says it restores the framework adopted in 1981 to carry out the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. It rescinds the 2024 changes and most of those made in 2015 and 2017, though it keeps the 2017 definitions of customary trade and handicraft.

The rule drops the permit requirement for collecting animal parts for handicrafts, removes restrictions on harvesting bears over bait for all user groups and restores public hearings before closures affecting fish and wildlife harvest. Alaska News reported Oct. 23 on the handicraft permit change.

The Park Service received 5,172 public comments during a 46-day comment period and consulted with Alaska Native tribes and corporations. The agency says the rule is meant to align its Alaska regulations with recent executive orders and Interior secretary's orders.

"The rule does not amend ANILCA or change the federal subsistence priority established under Title VIII," the Interior Department and the Park Service said in a joint announcement Oct. 16. Under ANILCA, the 1980 law, qualified rural residents get a subsistence priority on federal lands when resources are limited.